Byron Sonne....

[Digimer]

On 02/25/2011 11:17 PM, Colin McGregor wrote:
> A court case that I have been following to some degree is the one
> against Byron Sonne, an IT security expert who was arrested before the
> G20 meeting last year. In late January I spent about a half hour
> watching a small part of his preliminary hearing (where the Crown
> (government) Prosecutor has to prove to a judge that they have enough
> evidence that when they do reach trial they will not be laughed out).
> The preliminary hearing is over and here is what happened:
> 
> http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/article/945221--most-charges-dropped-against-g20-accused-in-jail-since-last-june
> 
> Bottom line, most of the charges against Byron Sonne have been
> dropped. Based on what little I saw the only thing that surprises me
> is that any of the charges are still in place.
> 
> 
> Colin McGregor

Hi Colin,

  Having been to all of the hearings, I am somewhat limited in what I
can legally say in public. With that said;

  The preliminary inquiry stage has a very low threshold for what can be
entered in as evidence. Things like the admissibility of evidence is not
considered. The prelim judge does not have jurisdiction to consider
civil rights violations. The crown's presentation of the evidence must
be accepted and the defence's can't be considered. With this, the prelim
judge must decide if it is *possible* that a conviction could be won.

  Despite having all this against Byron, he had all but one of the
original charges tossed out. They did manage to add a new, amorphous
charge called "counseling the commission of a crime not committed",
which we fully expect to fail along with the explosives charge.

  Anyone interested in the private right to hack, to make, to
investigate, to reverse engineer or do security research should come to
the hearings. We, as private citizens, can make a difference by simply
being engaged. Come to the court when the trial starts. Listen for
yourself what can get you thrown in jail for over eight months (and
counting). Listen for yourself just how little the government needs to
destroy your life.

  Be engaged. Protect the right to be curious.

More coverage from today:

-
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/02/25/majority-of-g20-charges-against-security-consultant-byron-sonne-dropped/
-
http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/joe_warmington/2011/02/25/17414541.html

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